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The day after the presidential election, LaToya Buford’s 16-year-old daughter received a text saying she had been “selected to pick cotton in a nearby orchard.” The text came from a number Buford’s daughter did not recognize, but it addressed her by her full name. The teenager told her mother that some of her friends also received the message, but only those who were black like her.
Buford said her daughter didn’t have much of a visible reaction to the text. But Buford kept himself frightened and on high alert.
“I was just shocked and very angry,” Buford, who lives in Sacramento, California, told me. “If this could happen to my 16-year-old child,” she said, “I’m just scared of what could happen.”
Buford’s daughter was one of those students in middle school, high school and college More than 20 states who received similar racist texts in the days following the election. The attacks continued and expanded over the weeks, with messages threatening to send Latino and LGBTQ+ recipients to deportation or “re-education camps.” According to the FBI. Some of the messages came from the “Trump administration,” though the Trump campaign said It had nothing to do with the messages. The FBI is Still investigating A wave of harassment has left kids and families wondering who got their names and phone numbers and sent them creepy, personalized messages.
Meanwhile, other children across the country faced hate speech and harassment at school in the immediate aftermath of the election, from a racist note. Wyoming High School Bathroom A spate of anti-immigrant and other discriminatory incidents District of Vermont.
There’s not yet a lot of comprehensive data on how many children have been bullied in the wake of last month’s election, but experts and school officials say the incidents documented so far, like the texts Buford’s daughter and others received, reflect the continuation of a disturbing pattern.
After the 2016 election, Donald Trump’s xenophobic rhetoric about immigrants and other groups Made way to high schoolMiddle schools, even elementary school campuses, and kids started yelling “build a wall” and threatening to deport their classmates. Between 2016 and 2020, news reports documented more than 300 incidents of students or school staff using Trump’s words or name to harass children. According to a 2020 Washington Post analysis.
i am Hate crimes and harassment have been reported In 2016 and 2017. Schools, unfortunately, were a big part of the story, with swastikas and racist slogans defacing the places where children, a parent reminded me. supposed to be safe.
Children, especially teenagers, do not always disclose to adults how they feel bullied. But hate speech can cut deep, especially when the target is a child with a brain and sense of self Still developing. Children can Experience physical symptoms such as stomach ache and headache; Others may have panic attack or insomnia.
Harassment can also deprive young people of their legal right to an education, making them afraid to stay in class or even come to school, said Erin Maguire, director of equity and inclusion for the Essex Westford School District in Vermont, adding that harassment spiked during election weeks.
Although there have been complaints, some experts remain concerned about the impact of a second Trump administration on children across the country. Children continued to spout Trump-inspired insults throughout his first term. Washington Post analysis.
Experts say schools can make a big difference in helping students reach goals and creating an environment free of discrimination But they may face an uphill battle within an administration that has already aired it Opposition to equity and inclusion initiativesas well as the intention to dismantle public educational institutions that enforce civil rights.
Now some parents are preparing their children themselves for what they see as a new reality.
“There’s always been hate and racism in this country, but now people feel like they can come out behind closed doors and show that hate,” Buford said.
Hate speech spread in schools after the election
Since the 1990s, hate crimes have increased during election cycles as public dialogue has become increasingly heated and divisive, said Nadia Aziz, senior program director for combating hate and bias at the 75-year-old Civil and Human Rights Leadership Conference. – Old coalition of rights organizations. But Trump’s first candidacy has “empowered white nationalists” in a new way, he said. Since 2015, reported hate crimes have almost doubled, According to a report Earlier this year the Leadership Conference was published by the Education Fund.
Children and schools have not been left out of this larger trend. In Essex Westford, a majority-white district of about 3,800 students near Burlington, Vermont, harassment has been reported. A jump from the usual two or three 12 weeks from one week to the election. Some of the events, which ranged in age from elementary to high school, specifically referenced Trump’s proposed policies on immigration and gender identityMaguire said.
At Arapahoe Charter High, a small Wyoming school whose students are almost all Native American, a note written on a paper towel and a racial slur followed by “I hate” and a swastika were hung on the bathroom mirror, school principal Katie Law said a few days later. A student uses the same slur in class. “It was disappointing to see it continue,” Law said.
The texts aimed at Latin Americans were mostly directed at young people, said Juan Proano, CEO of the United Latin American Citizens League, a civil rights group. told the Washington Post. “Our expectation is that we will see more of this as we get closer to January 20,” he said.
Meanwhile, Buford has a conversation with all of his kids about “watching their backs.” “We live in a very diverse neighborhood,” he said. “But you can never be too careful, especially now.”
How to help bullied children
Families should not be alone in protecting children from hate speech; Experts say political leaders have an important role to play. Aziz said, “Any message sent by government officials can reach children. “The more government officials condemn hateful things,” he said, “the more examples our children need to see.”
Educators, too, “really look to different communities to lead the way,” said Liz King, senior program director for Education Equity at the Leadership Conference. “It’s meaningfully important when they get up and say, ‘This is awesome.'”
School leaders can combat hate speech and discrimination by using an inclusive curriculum for all students, King said. D Department of Education Office for Civil Rights Also provides resources to prevent and respond to discrimination in schools.
Trump has promised to eliminate that section, but King said the laws protecting children’s right to an education are not changing. “These laws are not going anywhere, and so we all have a responsibility to ensure that this administration meaningfully protects us all from discrimination and enforces our civil rights laws.”
“Schools need to find ways to hold all students in a way that helps them feel safe and supported,” Maguire said. “It’s our job to figure it out.”
what am i reading
School and district hall Preparing for what may happen If Trump is able to follow through on his promise of mass deportation legislation. Leaders worry that even the threat of such a policy could make children afraid to come to school.
“Brain Rot” is Oxford University Press word of the year.
The 2021 expanded child tax credit lifted families out of poverty — and then it ended. Now, a program in Michigan is experimenting with its own version, paying parents $1,500 during pregnancy and $500 a month for a baby’s first year.
My older kid and I are reconsidering Doom series notebooksAn old favorite in which three resourceful kids face off against unusual monsters like the “Balloon Goon”, which is basically an evil version of These guys.
from my inbox
A few weeks ago, I wrote about why kids aren’t reading for fun like they used to and why experts are worried. Many of you have written in with tips to get kids excited about books. “I advise parents that when they go to the library, don’t get a book, bring a basket of books,” wrote one reader. “Keep the receipt in the refrigerator, because it can be expensive to return late.” (I can confirm this from experience.)
“Don’t bother your children to read,” he continued. “Put the basket by the breakfast table or by the sofa, the only rule is ‘no phones, no screens’. If the child doesn’t pick up a book, don’t say anything. Get a new basket of books next week.”
I’ll be doing a version on the kids podcast soon Do the kids in your life have favorite podcasts? Let me know at anna.north@vox.com.
